As mentioned above, the present application is a continuation-in-part application of the application Ser. No. 602,000 filed by the same inventors on Aug. 5, 1975.
This prior application discloses an apparatus for the purification of waste water by means of an adsorber filled with active carbon, in which the active carbon moves in downward direction through the upright adsorber while the waste water to be purified passes in countercurrent direction to the stream of active carbon through the adsorber. In this apparatus the adsorber is provided with a frustoconical outlet portion, the generatrix of which includes with a horizontal line an angle between 55 and 50.degree. and in which in the upper third of the frustoconical outlet portion of the adsorber a distributor cone is arranged, the generatrix of which includes with a horizontal line an angle between 45 and 55.degree.. The distributor cone has an upwardly tapering conical wall provided with a plurality of apertures, the sum of the open cross-section of which is between 0.1 and 1% of the transverse cross-section of the adsorber. The waste water is fed into the distributor cone so that the waste water passes properly distributed in upward direction through the column of active carbon formed in the adsorber to be discharged from the latter in the region of the upper end thereof above the level of the column of active carbon formed therein. The base of the distributor cone forms with an opposite annular portion of the frustoconical outlet portion of the adsorber an annular gap of a width between 50 and 100 millimeters through which the active carbon passes to the outlet opening at the lower end of the frustoconical outlet portion of the adsorber.
Surprisingly it has now been ascertained that an apparatus of the aforementioned kind may also be used for purification of waste water if, instead of active carbon, other inorganic granulated adsorption material is used for the removal of organic material from the waste water. A suitable adsorption material is, for instance, kieselguhr, silica gel or Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 in pelletilized or granulated form. When granulated adsorption material of the aforementioned kind is used it is necessary to adapt the apparatus of the above-mentioned prior application to the greater density of the aforementioned granulated adsorption material and to the resulting greater friction between the individual granules, as well as the greater friction between the granules and the walls of the various elements of the adsorber.